White House Retreats From Weapons Claims

By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House retreated Monday from its once-confident claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and Democrats swiftly sought to turn the about-face into an election-year issue against President Bush.

The administration's switch came after retired chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay said he had concluded, after nine months of searching, that Saddam Hussein did not have stockpiles of forbidden weapons. Asked about Kay's remarks, White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to repeat oft-stated assertions that prohibited weapons eventually would be found.

McClellan said the inspectors should continue their work "so that they can draw as complete a picture as possible. And then we can learn - it will help us learn the truth."

Kay, meanwhile, was called to appear at a public hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday and agreed to attend, a Senate aide said.

Sen. John Kerry, seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, said Bush had misled the nation. "When the president of the United States looks at you and tells you something, there should be some trust," Kerry said from the campaign trail in Keene, N.H. "He's broken every one of those promises."

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